MJ Media Newsletter 18/11/16

Channel 4 win rights to Women’s Euro 2017

Channel 4 has outbid the BBC for the broadcast rights to the Uefa Women’s Euro 2017 tournament, which includes teams from both England and Scotland for the first time. The rights to the 2013 Women’s Euros in Sweden were previously held by the BBC. Stephen Lyle, commissioning editor for sport at Channel 4, said: “We’re thrilled to have secured the 2017 Uefa Women’s Euros on Channel 4. I believe this tournament is going to be one of the sporting highlights of the summer”. The announcement follows Channel 4’s acquisition of Formula One

UK predicted to spend £4.9bn on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are set to be bigger than ever this year, with UK consumers expected to spend £4.9bn during the weekend-long sales events. New research by Gocompare.com predicts that the average household will spend £175 over the course of the weekend, with clothing, toys, laptops, TVs and smartphones topping most shoppers’ wish lists. 34% of consumers already have plans to check out this year’s sales, with 9% planning on using the sales to buy most of their Christmas shopping. Almost ¼ of those surveyed said they researched items ahead of buying in sales and 19% said they held off making big purchases until the sales. Despite these best of intentions, to pre-plan purchases, 9% of consumers said that the appeal of big savings did often cause them to overspend or buy items they didn’t need.

Sony and Microsoft battle it out in the charts

Sony’s powerful new PS4 Pro console is out in stores with overall PlayStation 4 sales rising 204% week on week in the UK. Of that, 65% can be attributed to the newly updated console. Total sales for PS4 were 44% higher than those for the Xbox One, with Sony claiming a 53% share of the hardware market. Microsoft had previously confirmed that the Xbox One had topped the UK console chart for two consecutive months before the PS4 Pro’s launch, and Microsoft have since responded by cutting the price of the original Xbox One, with a starting price of £179.99.

Instagram and Facebook unveil new features, with focus on brands and businesses

Instagram has expanded its Stories offering with a host of new features, which many commentators claim will benefit brands using the platform. Verified accounts are now able to add hyperlinks to their Stories, allowing users to click through to their browser or to view additional content in-app. Additionally, users will now be able to tag other Instagram users in their Stories through by including their username, arguably making influencer integrations more streamlined. Instagram owner Facebook has unveiled a new unified app for businesses, allowing them to respond to customers on Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Instagram from one interface. This new offering will include a unified stream of all commentary, i.e. comments on their Facebook posts, post on their Page, messages and comments on their Instagram and videos; as well as individual tabs for focusing on individual channels.